Time of death and onset of rigor mortis was questioned during the second day of testimony at the public inquest into the death of Alexander Charles Joseph.
Joseph, 36, died on Oct. 4, 2018, of a suspected overdose while he was being transported with eight other prisoners in a corrections van between Prince George and Maple Ridge.
A jury of five and presiding coroner Lyn Blenkinsop, heard testimony today (Aug. 10) from RCMP investigators, a community coroner, toxicologist and pathologist as they try to determine the facts behind Joseph's death.
The previous day’s testimony examined how the corrections van stopped on highway 97 near 100 Mile House to seek assistance from an RCMP officer who was in the process of ticketing a vehicle.
That officer, Cst. Rick Meaver along with the correction officers, and two passersby then performed CPR on Joseph until paramedics arrived and he was pronounced dead.
During the day’s proceedings, the jury first heard from Cst. Ryder Birtwistle, an RCMP officer with the 100 Mile House detachment who took control of the scene after he got the call from Meaver.
“The prisoners kept saying they had to drive with their dead friend for quite a while and that they were trying to get the guards' attention,” he testified, adding that the other prisoners were eventually taken to 100 Mile House to be interviewed at the detachment.
Birtwislte also noted when he was examining Joseph’s body he found a small pill in his waistband and while examining the vehicle found a small flap of what was suspected to be drugs in the floor of the van which was found to contain traces of fentanyl.
He testified that RCMP also seized a number of items during Joseph’s autopsy. “Two items were found in Mr. Joseph’s rectum,” said Birtwistle.
He added the items, which consisted of a kinder egg and something wrapped in scotch tape, were discovered to contain tobacco and methamphetamine.
The jury also heard that the investigation was turned over to the North District Major Crimes Unit, who investigate homicides and suspicious deaths.
Sgt. Matthew MacLeod, lead investigator with the unit, said they became involved because of the statements given by the other prisoners in the corrections vehicle.
“Because there was mention of anywhere between a short period of time and an hour-and-a-half to get the attention of the guards, if that were to be the case, there would have been a criminal offense involved,”said MacLeod.
“Had it been an hour-and-a-half to get their attention, and we didn’t know if that was easy to do or hard to do, we became involved.”
Counsel for Corrections Rolf Warburton and Johnny Van Camp asked both Birtwistle and MacLeod to examine photos of the corrections vehicle in question.
Van Camp determined that vehicle was comprised of compartments or cells for each prisoner which contained three layers of bars and Plexiglas.
The van also contained an audio-visual monitoring system, which had no ability to record, and only allowed for one-way communication between the guards and the prisoners.
The jury also heard that the RCMP decided not to proceed with charges in this case after their investigation.
“Both corrects officers describe an out-of-the-norm hand gesture at the moment thought something was wrong during transport. Both corrections officers and prisoners describe banging during transport as a common occurrence,” said Warburton, reading from the unit’s report to crown counsel.
“At the point a hand gesture was received they immediately attempted to find help and adhere to PGRCC standard operating procedures and CPR was given to no avail.”
However, the exact timing of Joseph’s death was brought to question again when the on-scene coroner Thomas Grantham testified.
“My findings were that there was slight rigor forming,” said Grantham, then explaining, “The limbs were starting to become tense but there was still movement.”
The jury also heard from Dr. James Stephen, the forensic pathologist who conducted Joseph’s autopsy, who confirmed Joseph died from an overdose and had two packages inside his rectum.
“There was no significant anatomical cause of death […] so the basis for my conclusion is the toxicology and the cause of death is a drug overdose due to fentanyl and methamphetamine.”
Warburton asked Dr. Stephen about the presence of rigor, which was also described by witnesses during the previous day’s testimonies.
He described how Dr. De Swardt arrived on scene at 1:12 p.m. and noticed rigor as he had difficulty manipulating Joseph’s mouth and then 23 minutes later the ambulance attended arrived but could not intubate Joseph because of difficulty opening his mouth.
“In addition to that the attending community coroner, when he attended and did an examination at 3 p.m. his observation was rigor noticeably forming in the limbs and torso so that is three observations of rigor and from those observations would that give you an indication for the time of death?” asked Warburton.
“Those observations tend to indicate that he had been dead for a period of time,” said Dr. Stephen. “Most times in normal situations we start to see rigor in the small muscles around two hours.”
The inquest will proceed tomorrow (Aug. 11) with testimony from the other prisoners in the van.
During a coroners inquest no one is on trial and the jury, bylaw, may not make any finding that implies legal responsibility.
Upon conclusion of the four-day proceedings, the jury can make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances.
